Survivor: Guatemala’s Episode 4: The Turn of the Judd

Back when Colby Donaldson was shown voting Keith out of the Outback in favor of Tina, his decision supposedly elicited a “holy ----” from original winner Rich Hatch, and probably a few others watching (indeed, it also earned Colby a Reality TV Hall of Shame Moment). That was probably the reaction of many viewers to Judd’s decision to turn on original teammates Brooke, Margaret, and Cindy and vote out Brooke. If Judd didn’t shoot himself in the tribal foot, he certainly let it be gnawed on by one of the huge gators lurking nearby, and most likely, the decision will come back to, uh, bite him.

For one thing, he made it so much easier for my editor to write the “Why Judd Lost” which may be posted much quicker than the doorman anticipated. Off the bat, he violated at least two rules I can think of: He backstabbed before he had to, and he let his emotions control him.

Yes, he made it clear that he didn’t like his teammates, but should that have affected his vote? He may not like his old tribe, but for strategy purposes, it would’ve been better to stick with them for the time being. After all, wasn’t it Burton in the Pearl Islands who said that you can hate someone’s guts but be in an alliance with them if you have the same goals? If he doesn’t have the same goals as Margaret, Cindy, and the now-departed Brooke, which were to stay strong and gain a numbers advantage, he should have. Judd said you can’t trust anybody, but he was putting an awful lot of trust in his newest tribe members.

Did he by chance watch the Africa edition of the show? If he did, he would know that Brandon turned on Kelly for no good reason, and as a result, not only did his original tribemates no longer trust him, the original Borans who used him as a pawn turned right around and discarded him, knowing he couldn’t be trusted.

The tribe needs Judd’s strength, but they may decide it’s not worth it if he may turn on any of them. As Jeff Probst noted, when you shift allegiances, you make it harder to trust you. Could the doorman soon be shown the door? After all, in the previews for next week, one of his original tribemates not surprisingly calls him a traitor.

If you’ve seen the musical Oklahoma you may remember a song titled, “Poor Judd is Dead.” Well, Guatemala Judd isn’t dead, but his chances of winning may be. Come to think of it, the whole series could be made into a musical called Guatemala. Just think of the title song possibilities: “Guaaaaaaaatemala, where the temps are higher than…”- uh, the price of gas? Okay, so it needs a bit of work. At any rate, the man who said for his old tribemates to “get outta my jungle” may find his tribal council vote to be a “bungle in the jungle.”

Not only did Judd made a decision that might just prove to be a Hall of Shame moment, the reasons for that decision might not even be valid to begin with. He mentioned how he didn’t feel the love from his original his tribe, but conveniently forgot that it was this same tribe who voted him as most deserving of a picnic. Maybe the love was there, but he was too busy complaining about loud monkeys to notice.

As long-time viewers know, when a castaway is going to get booted, we sometimes see more footage of them than we would otherwise. Why wasn’t that the case with Brooke? It’s certainly not that she didn’t look good on camera. My guess is, she may not have had too many moments that made for good TV, i.e. no tantrums or screaming matches with tribemates. Remember Mia from Vanuatu? She didn’t last long, so here’s a refresher: She clashed with several tribemates, and clashed loudly, and when she was booted early on, it was obvious why.

If that had been the case with Brooke, the producers certainly would’ve shown it. But not only did we not see her ruffle any feathers, I can’t remember hearing any of her tribemates ever complain about her. She was most likely the unluckiest of this season’s cast. She was unlucky enough to draw the Nakúm buff, and she was unlucky enough to have Judd turn on her. Chances are she may have stayed around awhile without the switch, or if she’d drawn a different buff.

Here’s a question regarding the two castaways voted “smelliest,” Gary and Bobby Jon. Could their smell have anything to do with the fact they’re two of the harder workers in the game? If so, no one deserved to enjoy a shower more.

Speaking of Gary, when he and his tribemates noted the gator in the water, how funny would it have been to hear him say, “I had a few defensive ends ‘put the bite’ on me, but never like that.” Finally, did he deliberately refrain from doing any throwing during the immunity challenge, figuring it might further arouse suspicions of his gridiron past? If so, he’s about as lucky as Brooke was unlucky, because his team ended up winning without him. But if they’d encouraged him to throw, would he have tried to hit the targets or deliberately missed to throw the others off his NFL trail?

Speaking of luck, Jeff Probst noted Stephenie’s bad luck in challenges, as well as her 4-17 overall record. Is she like Schleprock on Pebbles and Bam-Bam, and bad luck just follows her round? Maybe so, but one thing is for certain: Her teams lose in spite of her performances, not because of them. Think back to the last episode, where she tried to talk strategy to Lydia and Brianna in the immunity challenge, to no avail. This time around, she again did her part to win immunity, being one of two on her team to score a point.

Stephenie may be the Archie Manning of Survivor (yep, another quarterback reference). For those of you who don’t know, the father of current NFL signal-callers Payton and Eli spent many years with the New Orleans Saints when they were usually not competitive, despite his best efforts. Stephenie may be destined to be in a similar boat.

Based on the previews for next week, it should be interesting to see how Judd explains his voting strategy to Margaret and Cindy. If he’s not convincing enough, the doorman may end up hearing at the next tribal council, “So long, and don’t let the doorknob hit you where…” – uh, if you want to know the rest, just email me.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other Survivor: Guatemala Episode 4 articles:

Ken can be reached with any comments, criticisms, or money orders at YourNextOfKen@aol.com.

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